Subject: Re: Problems with Battlesuits vs. UT Cybersuit
From: Anthony Jackson <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 09:15:02 -0800 (PST)

Michael Schlenker writes:
> I've got a small problem with the Cybersuit from UT1. It seems to be
> impossible to reconstruct it with Mecha or Robots rules. Does anyone
> have an idea how to do it?

You can't -- you have to invent rules.  A cybersuit isn't really a vehicle; its
a suit of body armor which happens to boost strength slightly.  Incidentally,
powered combat armor (TL 10) has much the same problem, an actual suit with the
same stats weighs 300+ lb.

Here are some rules I posted a while back to help deal with examples like
those; they're fairly reasonable, though not actually tested.

a)  Frameless vehicles (TL 1+)
    A vehicle may be constructed _without_ a frame if it is designed to be
carried.  A frame _must_ be included if the vehicle has a drivetrain; if any
other subsystems (e.g. arms) are capable of self-powered movement a frame ust
be included.  The maximum ST of an arm is equal to arm hit points * 10.  Any
subassembly with a volume greater than 150% of the volume of the limb inside
must have a frame (if you wish to add 'pods', give them frames also).  Bulky
suits will be clumsy; for every 20% (or fraction) increase in armor volume
reduce DX with the applicable limb by 1.

b)  Human-augmentation armor (TL 8+)
    Any battlesuit with total volume no greater than (pilot weight/25) cf can
be designed so that rather than the motors moving everything, the motors merely
match the wearer's movements; the result is a suit of armor which seems to be
weightless.  The advantage of this is that the pilot weight is not counted into
the loaded weight of the armor (!), and that half the pilot's ST is added to
the ST of the vehicle.

The disadvantage of this is that the battlesuit's speed cannot exceed the
running speed of the pilot, who is treated as being at _light_ (not no)
encumbrance -- this is because any such suit is necessarily somewhat clumsy. 
Optionally, TL 11+ suits might be treated as 'no' encumbrance.  In addition,
any human augmentation system has at least -1 DX.

c)  'Cybersuit' armor (TL 10+)
    A 'cybersuit' is nothing more than a suit of reflex armor turned inside out
-- rather than the sensors responding to incoming attacks, they respond to the
movement of the person inside.  Obviously, the armor of such a suit must be
bought as reflex armor, though it is not treated as reflex armor (at TL 11+ it
may be reflex as well, for double cost).  A cybersuit is treated as a frameless
vehicle, _except_:
1)  The suit adds (DR * area/200) to the wearer's ST (DR/10 for a normal suit)
2)  _any_ subsystems with volume must be located outside of the armor (though
they may be armored normally) and will count as encumbrance.
3)  The suit will negate its own weight to a maximum of (DR*area)/20 lb, but
will only negate the weight of armor and surface features.
4)  The suit has power requirements of 0.01 kW * ST bonus.  The ST bonus may be
reduced, to a minimum of compensated weight/10, to reduce power requirements.
Note that only DR from reflex armor applies to #1 and #3, though you may add
additional armor if desired.